Abounding Grace

Pastor Ed Taylor: When confronted with the clear truth from scripture, will you obey right away? Oftentimes when you don't want to do something, you say, "Let me pray about it." What do you mean, let you pray about it? It's pretty clear. Why don't you do it?

"I'm not so quick to obey anymore." You can say that. "I'm not so quick to offer myself to God as a living sacrifice anymore. I need to pray about it." Yeah, but it's pretty clear. Read your Bible. "Let me pray about that." Love your neighbor. "Let me pray about that."

It's usually the phrase, not always exclusively of course, but it's usually a phrase that's used to either delay or subvert obedience in your life. If that's you, you need to repent. The days in which we live are not days to be messing around.

Narrator: From Calvary Church in Aurora, Colorado, this is Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed Taylor. We're making our way through Galatians one verse at a time. As we learned last time, there is only one gospel and one way to be saved.

A group of legalists had made their way into the church of Galatia and added to the gospel of grace. The Galatians were turning away from the truth because of it. So the apostle Paul stepped in with this reminder of what the gospel is and is not. Here is Pastor Ed in Galatians chapter one.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Notice what he says in verse eight. "But even if you that are troubled, you that are following a twisted message, but even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you, that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed." Let him be accursed.

And we have said before, and so now say again, "If anyone preaches any other gospel to you than that which you have received, let him be accursed." Those are strong words. That word accursed is the Greek word anathema. It means to the lowest hell.

If we were using language today, Paul would be saying like this, "If anyone, even an angel, comes and preaches another gospel, they can go to hell." They can go to hell. That's the strong words. That's what's worthy of preaching a false gospel. It's no small thing.

It's no small thing to come and roll into a church like this, because people roll in here all the time wanting to take advantage of you. They'll hear something and think, "He's not preaching right," and they'll just be rolling in. False teachers don't like going after the lost. They only go after the saved to disrupt you, to confuse you, and to criticize the teaching of God's word to try to get you to follow them.

Here's what Paul says. He says, "You know what? They can be accursed." What they're doing is like the Pharisees of old, the blind leading the blind into a ditch. They're not helping you at all. They're disrupting your faith. Here you are, born again, loving Jesus, living for Him, life is changing, and then they come rolling in saying, "You're not doing it good enough. You need to do this and you need to do that and you need to follow this." Paul says they're accursed.

He repeats it twice. Strong language for a Christian. Yet Paul is speaking the truth in love. Jot it down. Proverbs chapter 27 and verse five says, "Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed." You want to have people in your life that will tell you the truth.

You want people in your life that love you enough to tell you the truth about your life. You want to be in a church where the pastors tell you the truth about your life in love. Because today there are churches filled with men and even women in the pulpit that will not tell you the truth. They'll accommodate to culture, coddle you in your sin, and pretend things are not as bad.

Hopefully, a pastor's not going to be doing it every week, saying "Go to hell everybody, go to hell everybody." I hope that's not it. But occasionally you've got to understand what you're dealing with is serious. Don't let anybody rip you off. I don't care how appealing it might be.

He even says this in verse eight: "Even if an angel from heaven comes." Not just a man, not just a woman, but even if you meet a supernatural being created by God and they preach to you a false gospel, do not receive it. Reject that angel.

Some of you pause for a moment and you're asking a question in your mind that you should be asking. The question is, wait a minute, Pastor, would an angel really come and preach a false gospel? And the answer to that question is yes, a fallen angel. Or what we would refer to today as demons.

Demons are preaching false teachings all the time. It's true. Notice with me, turn over to Second Corinthians chapter 11. We looked at this briefly last time when we were learning about true apostles (capital A) and false apostles (little a). For some of us, we're all apostles in the sense that we've been sent out.

But remember we learned last time, apostles capital A referred to 13 people. There are not apostles today as they were in the first century. But that has been conveyed to all of us as those that are sent out. I want to read a little bit more to you in Second Corinthians chapter 11 so you can see they were already dealing with this in the first century.

Notice with me verse 11, Paul writing Second Corinthians 11. He says, "Why? Because I do not love you? God knows! But what I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast."

A bunch of fakers and false people. He says in verse 13, "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ." They're taking it upon themselves, taking the title upon themselves, creating a new position, all of that.

But then he says in verse 14, "And no wonder! For Satan himself..." And if you just need to be reminded, Satan the devil is the chief fallen angel. He is the number one head honcho demon in the demonic realm. "For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light." He camouflages himself. He lies.

He brings about this false front. Paul says even if an angel comes and preaches to you, it doesn't matter what they look like or what they say. If they preach a false gospel, you must reject them. Which tells us every true angel of God will agree with God's word.

Anyone that disagrees with God's word is not going to be sent from God. He says no matter what an angel might say, what a prophet might speak, what a teacher might teach, if it doesn't line up with what you know the word says, reject it. Reject them wholeheartedly and unashamedly.

As a pastor, it's very discouraging. I can say very discouraged for me personally, very troubling for me to watch the body of Christ so quickly follow the latest fad, the latest trend, the latest flavor of Christianity, what's been trending, what's gone viral, what new YouTube guy or gal is out there, what social media gets the church's attention and they wander off very quickly and suffer as a result, and their family suffers.

It's just as big or bigger problem today as it was in the first century. Over the years there have been so many goofy and false things that have entered the church in the name of truth. I remember the season when it was real popular to bark like a dog. That was evidence that you were filled with the Spirit, that you were roaring like lions and barking like dogs and laughing in the Spirit.

It's come and gone, although it's there a little bit in different circles of the church today. People walking around barking and roaring and laughing in the Spirit. It's all nonsense, but it catches people's attention. Traditions and customs that are suggested in churches today that maybe sound good, that maybe even feel good, but it's not good because it's not in the scriptures.

So many false gospels. There's the prosperity gospel. That's pretty popular today. It's not a gospel. It's neither prosperity nor gospel except for the people teaching that false teaching. It's only good news for them. It's only prosperous for them, not for anyone else.

I think of the political gospel today, that you need to vote a certain way or do a certain thing in order to be saved. That's to be rejected. I think of the apparitions that are around the world today that take away. Somebody will see the Virgin Mary in a piece of toast and everybody follows them.

"Have you heard? Do you know they found this piece of toast and Mary visited us?" Stop it! Reject that nonsense. It doesn't matter what you've been taught. That is not true, not to be followed. It is a false gospel to be rejected. There's just no other option.

You don't take it even partially. You don't think Mary can show up in toast? No! Or tortillas or soup. You are to look to Jesus Christ. You are looking to Him, the author and finisher of your faith. No one else takes His place. We have one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

No priest, no pastor, no man, no woman, no YouTube, no radio, no TV. Only Jesus is worthy of your worship. He alone shed His blood to save you, no one else. This angel, do you really believe that angels show up and preach false teachings? Yes. There is a multi-billion dollar cult that exists today because a man by the name of Joseph Smith said he was visited by an angel named Moroni, who gave him a complete false teaching that millions of people follow today.

It's known as Mormonism. And it was false. Before Joseph Smith was ever born, the Bible told him, reject that demon. Reject him. I don't care what he says. Don't listen to him because it's not true. So the Bible written is filled with truths.

Church, I sense with the heart of Paul here like, I don't want to be in a position, I can't believe you guys! Why would you listen to that? Even in the last few years with all the challenges and things that we faced through the pandemic and all, I watched people just drift away from the truth and still haven't returned.

Somebody caught their ear that agreed with them, and that's who they follow now. They're not growing in Christ. They're not spreading the gospel. They're not doing the work of the ministry even though they're very active. They're not active in the things of God.

Do you know what the Bible says Jesus did? He taught us. He said, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added." It's a matter of priorities. You get caught up in things that while they may be good in and of themselves—a good cause, a good thought, a good philosophy—if it's not the gospel, it needs to be rejected or taken in the position secondary to the gospel so that you're led by the Holy Spirit.

The poor churches in Galatia were confused. They were troubled. They were queasy. They were sick to their stomach. They were ready to vomit because it was so hard and so difficult. These teachers came in and really messed with them.

That's what false teaching does, you know. False teaching goes after the believers and tries to just find one little thing. If they can get you talking, one little thing they can hook into and use that—something you might be trying to learn or something you don't quite understand—and they hook into that and confuse you so that they become the source of every single answer thereby going forward.

Paul would say as the Holy Spirit speaking through him, "Don't let people trouble you. Don't let people twist the gospel." Reject them. You have a responsibility, you know. We can't just lay it all on the false teachers. You and I have a responsibility to tune our ears to hear the voice of the Lord, to tune our ears and to train ourselves and our lives by tuning our ears, but also training our life not to follow men or follow women more importantly than following the Lord.

It is not okay for you to follow man more than you follow the Lord. I think of in my relationship with you, the privilege I have to serve you. My words are not more important than the words of the Bible. My teachings are not more important than the teachings of Jesus.

So that anything that I teach you, like the Bereans in the book of Acts, you need to take what's taught to you and bring it back to the word of God. Even the newest of new believers can open up the Bible and ask God to give clarity on anything they've ever heard. You don't need to be seminary trained in order to do that. You don't need to have gone to Bible college or have a degree. You have the Holy Spirit in you and the Holy Spirit is your teacher.

It wasn't too long ago I received an email from someone very upset with me about something that I said. I almost always ask the question, what did I say? What did I say that so upset you? Well, I called out a false teacher and false teaching on the radio and it flipped this person out, very upset.

And so when they wrote this long email, before I even answered it, I gave a quick answer and I wanted to clarify to make sure we're on the same page. And I asked in response to that long email, I said, "Are you saying to me with your email, I just want to make sure, are you saying it was wrong for me to call out false teaching and the false teacher that it comes from?"

To which the response was kind of the same as the first email. And then I responded again with all the facts, all the information. To which brought another response: "Well, you shouldn't do that. You can't do that." And here's what's being conveyed from this person.

Somehow this person was used in a vulnerable time in their life to help them. So they became attached to the person. When you become attached to the person more than you're attached to Christ, you're going to start believing false things if the person you attach yourself to teaches you false things. Does that make sense?

Obviously, if you're in a vulnerable place and someone's used in your life, that's great. All glory to God for you getting some kind of comfort. But don't give credit to a false teacher for the false teaching as where your comfort came from. God is the God of all comfort.

And let me just answer the question for you. Is it okay for me to call out false teaching and false teachers? Yes, yes, yes. And another time, yes. It's true. Because if not, I wouldn't be a faithful pastor, a faithful leader, a faithful brother in the Lord.

I know it'll happen. Percentage-wise in a church this size, I know it happened. It has happened, but it's always discouraging. It's been said that Judaism was the cradle of Christianity, and it was. But also that it almost became the grave of Christianity.

Christianity was a fulfillment of the law, not a continuation. It fulfilled it. It's a new covenant which we'll celebrate very shortly here. False teachers were coming in saying you had to go backwards. You had to go back to the law. You have to be circumcised. You need to follow the rules.

You have to understand as you see it in your own life, legalism, following a set of rules and regulations to make yourself feel good about your walk with God. Legalism at its core and in its essence seeks to please man by following man-made rules.

I'll give you an example. If indeed you have reduced your relationship to Jesus with a list, let's say you have five things on your list. Five things. Or you would want the church to give you a list of five things. This is how you remain right with God.

"Get up in the morning, take a shower, brush your teeth, comb your hair." That's how you present yourself at work. If we had a list like that: "Get up in the morning, read an hour a day, on Tuesdays read two hours, on Wednesdays read three hours, make sure you go to church 10 times a week." And you just kind of go through.

If you chose to live by a list, here's what you would do. You'd wake up in the morning and your first thought would be the list. You'd start working the list. Very sincerely and genuinely. I'm not saying that you can't do that sincerely. Of course you can. But you would just be living your life to check boxes.

Did this, did this, did this. And when you go to bed in the evening, the last thing on your mind would be, did I finish the list? "Oh no, I forgot. Let me do this really quick so I can check the box." Legalism appeals to the flesh. If you can check the five boxes, you feel good.

It doesn't matter if you're connected to God or not. It doesn't matter if you heard from Him. It doesn't matter if you are following His leading. You checked the boxes. Now, you have to understand with legalism, there's a deeper issue. And that is for yourself, a legalist for themselves has a lot of rules for everyone else.

But you know what they do for themselves? They show themselves grace and they give everyone else the law. So what that means is your list might be five for yourself, but for your wife, it's 10 because you know she needs 10. Or vice versa. For your husband, he's got 10.

So you get the five, but if he's going to be right with God, he's got to do 10 or 11. All right? And so that's how you measure it. "I did my five. Did you do your 10? I'm sorry babe, I only did six. One more than you, by the way, but I only did my six."

And you can see it's just like you're giving law that nobody can ever live up to your standards except you because you give yourself grace. And you become a critic, and you become a sin-sniffer, sniffing out the sin of everyone that didn't check the boxes.

"You didn't do this and you didn't do this and you didn't do this." Bro, if you just spent that much time on your own life, how powerful of a life you would have! The legalist has to be very, very careful. "You must follow the law."

Yeah, but remember Peter said you're not even able. Jesus said to the religious leaders, "You guys are laying heavy burdens on people that you yourselves won't even carry." That's the legalist. You have the air. You have the outward. It's an appeal to the flesh, not only your own flesh but other people.

"Oh, look at you! You are such a great believer. Oh, look at you! One day I want to be like you. I want my list of 10 to become a list of five so I can give other people..." It's all a mess. God is calling them back to a place, not to the natural man but to the spiritual man and the spiritual woman who loves.

God loves you. He cares for you. And if you don't change your ways, you're going to suffer greatly. If you don't yield yourself back to the Lord, you're going to hurt even worse than you are right now. You will walk away from the Lord.

One of the things that is kind of worse than someone walking away from the Lord is somebody still sitting in the chairs that have walked away from the Lord and pretending for everybody. When you have to understand, your pretending catches up to you. Most of the people already know that you're pretending.

Most of the people already know. But even if people didn't know, what difference does it make? God knows. He knows the reality of your life. So Paul opens up very, very strong. Very, very strong. I can't believe it. What are you guys doing?

You're following something that's not even the gospel. There's no good news in what they have to offer. And backsliding, turning away from the Lord, it's not a sudden thing. It's a slow leak over time. It slowly creeps in. It involves a series of deliberate, even though insignificantly small, decisions that when they add up take you away from Jesus.

Maybe today you look back on a time in your life where you were more passionate for the things of God, more obedient, more submissive, more abiding. Remember what Jesus told the church in Ephesus? He said in Revelation that you have left your first love.

So remember from where you have fallen and repent, and then repeat and go back and do the first works. Maybe that's you. The significance of coming back to a place when you were born again, I just think of all the decisions you made over and over again. "Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord."

It doesn't matter the cost. Yes, yes, yes. And then over time, it's "Yes, and maybe." "Yes, maybe. I don't know." And then you learn all the Christian lingo. And the Christian lingo oftentimes when you don't want to do something is this. You ready?

"Let me pray about it." What do you mean, let you pray about it? It's pretty clear. Why don't you do it? "Nah, I'm not so quick to obey anymore." You can say that. "I'm not so quick to offer myself to God as a living sacrifice anymore. I need to pray about it." Yeah, but it's pretty clear. Read your Bible.

"Let me pray about that." Love your neighbor. "Let me pray about that." It's usually the phrase, not always exclusively of course, but it's usually a phrase that's used to either delay or subvert obedience in your life.

If that's you, you need to repent. The days in which we live are not days to be messing around, not days to be happy with a lackadaisical, lukewarm life. Not! God has so much higher for you. The gospel, the good news, He wants you to live in the life of good news.

He wants you to live the life of enjoying everything that He has for you, that you would take it all, enjoy it all, live it all, go for it all in a day and age, in a darkness that needs the light of the gospel. That you wouldn't follow a false gospel, that you wouldn't identify by all this nonsense that's there that has nothing at all to do with the gospel at all. The gospel always goes to the heart of the matter and the soul of a person. Everything else is the flesh. And we don't want the flesh. We want the Spirit. Amen?

Narrator: Well, thanks for studying the word with us here at Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed Taylor. Are you interested in hearing this program again? If so, drop by aboundinggraceradio.com or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Another option is the Calvary Church app.

Storms come and go in our lives, and when the storm hits, there's something you need to know. Pastor Chuck Smith unveils that for us in a book we'd like to get into your hands. It's aptly titled When the Storm Hits.

When you give a donation of $25 or more to Abounding Grace, you're invited to request a copy of this helpful book. Give us a call at 877-30-GRACE. That's 877-304-7223. You can also order the book online at calvaryco.store.

You can also make a donation to the ministry online at aboundinggraceradio.com. And thank you in advance for helping us reach people with the love and truth of Jesus Christ here on the radio and the internet. Join Pastor Ed all this week as we continue to learn how to live by God's abounding grace.